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A half-century from Rohit Sharma, coupled with explosive cameos from Jos Buttler and Mitchell McClenaghan, helped Mumbai Indians gun down 188 against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens

The Report by Alagappan Muthu13-Apr-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMitchell McClenaghan’s promotion to No. 4 spelled the end for Kolkata Knight Riders•BCCIIt was entirely bewildering. Mitchell McClenaghan walked out at No. 4 for Mumbai Indians. It is not like the side is short of hitters. Mumbai spent INR 3.8 crores acquiring a new one for this year, but Jos Buttler caught fire only after the spark provided by McClenaghan’s eight-ball 20. The events between the 11th and the 15th overs of the chase decided the winner of the match – Mumbai, by six wickets.McClenaghan’s responsibility – under normal circumstances – was to slip into Lasith Malinga’s shoes. Be the wicket-taker at the start and the enforcer at the end. Today, he was asked to disrupt the Kolkata Knight Riders spinners. And he was given the freedom to do so. Every single shot played by the New Zealand fast bowler was a slog. His second, third and fourth balls cleared the Eden Gardens boundaries. The eighth – a wide full toss that he tried to slog sweep – led to his downfall but by then Mumbai had regained lost momentum. An equation of 101 off 60 balls had shrunk to 79 off 49.It became 49 off 30 when Buttler followed a straight drive with pulled six off chinaman bowler Brad Hogg. A scoop to the fine leg boundary – which established Buttler’s finesse – and two lofted cover drives – which established his power – deflated Knight Riders. Gautam Gambhir, who had taken the record (27) for the most fifties in the IPL earlier in the night, watched the ball soar and the chances for his team sink with every minute Buttler was on strike.When Buttler eventually fell for 41 off 22 balls, the Mumbai captain, Rohit Sharma, back at his preferred opening position, provided more evidence of why he should be given as many overs as possible in a T20 game. Rohit held the innings together with his unbeaten 84, and even finished it off with an array of beautiful shots – a straight six, a deft glide to third man and an outrageous sweep off an overpitched delivery coming at him with the express pace of Andre Russell from around the wicket. Rohit averages 50.12 and strikes at 145.81 at Eden Gardens in T20 cricket. Mumbai, his team, have won eight out of 10 games at this venue, including the IPL title in 2013 and 2015.Knight Riders’ batting may not have been as eye-catching as Mumbai’s, but it was very efficient. Manish Pandey could find the boundary at will. He pulled his second ball for four, dominated the spin of Harbhajan Singh and J Suchith by virtue of his quick footwork, and secured his fifty off only 26 balls. The standout shot, though, was a glide to third man off Jasprit Bumrah in the 13th over. The pitch was excellent for batting, but it was allowing the cutters some grip. Pandey saw the variation out of the bowler’s hand, waited for it to arrive and simply let it fly off the face of his bat.His captain Gambhir was a little less adept – at the end of the second over he was only 3 off 8 balls – but a lot more determined. Gambhir hared back and forth for twos – there were eight of them in his innings of 64 – and ensured he was at the crease for as much of the 20 overs as possible. Andre Russell bludgeoned 36 off 17 balls to give the Knight Riders a total they thought was more than par.But their most trusted weapon – spin bowling – was dismantled by Rohit and company. Hogg, Kuldeep Yadav and Piyush Chawla cost 103 in 11.1 overs. There was no coming back from that.

Craig McMillan knows a little bit about stratospheric one-day performances but New Zealand’s batting coach was unwilling to predict how much further teams could go

Alan Gardner13-Jun-20151:22

‘Not right to be easier to bowl in T20 than ODI’ – Taylor

Craig McMillan knows a little bit about stratospheric one-day performances but, after seeing more than 760 runs scored in 96 overs at The Oval on Friday night, New Zealand’s batting coach was unwilling to predict how much further teams could go.It is more than eight years since McMillan played a key role in New Zealand overhauling totals of 336 and 346 against Australia in consecutive matches – still two of the five highest successful chases in the format. McMillan’s 67-ball hundred in the third ODI was the fastest by a New Zealander until Corey Anderson and Jesse Ryder both breezed past the mark at the start of 2014.That final match in Hamilton in 2007 saw 696 runs scored, albeit within the bijou dimensions of Seddon Park, and was at the time the second-highest match aggregate in history. It has since been pushed down to 10th, with six of the new entries coming in the last two years. Changes to the ODI playing regulations recommended by the ICC cricket committee may shift the balance once again but McMillan’s suggestion that “400 might well be the new 300″ no longer seems outlandish.”I wouldn’t like to put framework on it, I don’t know,” McMillan said when asked about the expansion of batting horizons. “T20 cricket has changed the perception of one-day cricket and what is possible and what’s not. I would think it’s pretty hard to beat 400 against quality opposition but with some of the grounds you play on, where the boundaries aren’t big and you play on good, true surfaces, anything’s possible, really.””These two sides, we’ve got two attacking batting line-ups that are going pretty hard at one another. I think with the pitches we’re going to face in the remaining three matches, 400 might well be the new 300. It’s also T20 cricket coming to the fore, batsmen play with no fear so chasing seven, eight an over is not a big deal anymore.”After two matches in favourable batting conditions, this series is already beginning to resemble a subcontinental run fest, where bowlers are little more than fodder. At Edgbaston, New Zealand took a wicket with the first ball of the match but ended up conceding 408; this time, Steven Finn got through a maiden before the fireworks began. Even with a target off 399 to back them up, New Zealand’s attack only just held out.A couple of winters ago, India and Australia gave it some relentless pongo during a series that looked to have redefined the game – particularly in the wake of the rule changes that brought such attacking cricket at the World Cup. Then, the overall run rate was 6.64 over six matches (one of which was a no result due to rain); currently, England and New Zealand are trading blows at a rate of 7.72 runs per over.New Zealand’s 398 for 5 at The Oval was the second-highest total in their ODI history – and their best against a fellow Test nation – but there was an ominous sense of control about the way the runs came. Of the top four, only Brendon McCullum scored at significantly more than a run a ball in the first 35 overs, with Ross Taylor opening up towards the end for an unbeaten 119 off 96 and Grant Elliott and Luke Ronchi providing further impetus lower down.Underpinning it all was solid partnership-building, with 50-plus scores for each of the first four wickets – their smallest was 45 for the fifth – leaving McMillan very satisfied.”It was a very professional batting effort, to have partnerships all the way through really set the platform for that big total,” McMillan said. “McCullum and Guptill probably set the tone, then the partnership between Kane and Ross set the platform and it allowed guys like Elliott and Ronchi to come in and play their cameos. In many ways it was close to the perfect batting performance.”English conditions could once be relied on to even the contest between batmen and bowlers, even with the white ball, but the absence of swing so far has neutered a strength of both attacks. Another generous batting surface is expected at the Ageas Bowl, a ground on which New Zealand cracked 359 for 3 in 2013. Records may continue to tumble.”It’s been a difficult series for the bowlers so far, I think they’re looking forward to a pitch with a little bit more help at some stage,” McMillan said. “But it is something we need to keep working on, I think we made improvements from Edgbaston. England came very hard at us last night, harder than at Edgbaston but the boys got the job done.”There’s very little help, you usually see with the new balls a little bit of swing. That’s one of the challenges for them at the moment, when the ball doe\sn’t do anything, what’s your gameplan? You have to be able to adjust and be flexible. It’s a continual discussion among the bowling group, with Dimi Mascarenhas as well. I think we’ve seen from the first two games it’s going to be a tough series for the bowlers.”

Jude Bellingham is set to leave Borussia Dortmund at the end of the season. A bidding war is inevitable.

Jude Bellingham can take his pick of clubs next season. It is as straightforward as that for the 19-year-old with the world at his feet and the giants of his game banging at his door.

Manchester United love him, Liverpool want him to inject youth and sparkle into an ageing midfield, while Manchester City know they are likely to have to replace at least one of Bernardo Silva or Ilkay Gundogan next summer.

Chelsea, too, are long-term admirers and have shown under their new owners that they're not afraid to splash the cash.

Bellingham, then, is quite simply the player every top Premier League club is prepared to battle it out for when he likely leaves Borussia Dortmund at the end of the season.

But who's going to sign the most in-demand young player in world football? GOAL analyses what the future holds for Bellingham…

Getty ImagesBellingham knows his worth

First things first, there is no guarantee the teenager from Stourbridge will even opt for a homecoming just yet. After all, he already resisted the overtures of Sir Alex Ferguson, Bryan Robson and Eric Cantona when United threw everything they had at trying to tempt him away from Birmingham in 2020.

Bellingham knows his worth, knows his own mind – and has the assuredness of someone much older than his tender years to follow his own path.

Dortmund, he decided, was a better environment to develop his prodigious talents than Old Trafford.

Erling Haaland thought likewise when being courted by United at around the same time – and it didn’t turn out too badly for him.

So, like Haaland, Bellingham is set to be at the centre of an almighty transfer scramble when he leaves Dortmund – but don’t rule out Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Barcelona or Paris Saint-Germain, if he concludes that a return to England is not the right move for him.

AdvertisementGetty ImagesReady for the next step

Something that does seem certain is that he will be ready for the next step come the end of the season.

He gave a tantalising glimpse of his qualities in Dortmund's Champions League defeat to City earlier this month, scoring at the Etihad and imposing himself on Pep Guardiola’s star-studded team.

He feels like the man to take England to the next level ahead of the World Cup, with Gareth Southgate facing scrutiny during this international window over how he handles the midfielder.

Indeed, there are growing concerns that the manager's conservative tactics are stifling Bellingham's immense talent.

GettyThe future of England

Bellingham’s versatility is a strength and has allowed Southgate to keep him involved over the past 18 months – but he needs to be given a defined role in the team.

A midfield three with Declan Rice and Phil Foden would breathe life into an area of the pitch where England too often look short of inspiration – but would the risk-averse Southgate really veer so far away from the extra protection added by a Jordan Henderson or Kalvin Phillips?

Mason Mount instead of Foden might provide more of a half-way house – but the Chelsea player’s best performances have come in a more attacking role for club and country.

The feeling is that Bellingham is the future of England and that the midfield now needs to be built around Bellingham but, as once again underlined in last week's 1-0 loss to Italy, which relegated the Three Lions from the top tier of the Nations League, there are significant doubts over whether Southgate is capable of getting the very best out of the nation's best attacking talents.

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Still, there is a growing clamour for Bellingham and Rice to make up two thirds of any England midfield at the World Cup. How Southgate chooses to supplement them is, of course, up to him. It's a decision that will likely define both England's tournament and, by consequence, the manager's legacy.

What's clear, though, is that if Bellingham shines in Qatar, Dortmund can effectively name their price for their most valuable asset.

He is already considered a potential era-defining talent. If he were to leave his mark on the 2022 World Cup, Bellingham will likely be a £100 million ($110m) player by this time next year, which narrows the field of potential destinations significantly…

Aaron Finch and David Warner gave Australia the chance to go home with a solitary win in an otherwise forgettable tournament

The Report by Daniel Brettig01-Apr-2014
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:19

Crowe – Australia efficient against poor bowling

Al-Amin Hossain fined

Bangladesh fast bowler Al-Amin Hossain was fined 15% of his match fee, for giving David Warner a send-off after dismissing him. He was found to be in breach of article 2.1.4 of the ICC code of conduct, which relates to “using language or a gesture that is obscene, offensive or insulting during an international match”.

If the destructive power brought to bear by Aaron Finch and David Warner allowed Australia to evade the ignominy of their worst-ever global tournament display, then it also underlined why the sometime favourites will fly home with an especially bitter memory of the 2014 World Twenty20.Finch and Warner alone possess enough pyrotechnics to dominate a match – as Bangladesh discovered in a chase that consigned the hosts to the ignominy of failing to win a single fixture in the main draw. So for the Australians to be leaving the tournament at such an early stage will be the cause of some introspection by the captain George Bailey, the coach Darren Lehmann and the selectors. To avoid going home without winning any of four games was the most modest of rewards.It remains to be seen whether Bailey will continue as the specialist T20 captain, having guided Australia through two tournament campaigns for diminishing returns. He ended Australia’s tournament with a hollow-feeling six as Finch and Warner swung lustily but intelligently, but looked nonplussed at times in the field as Bangladesh wriggled to a higher total than a more ruthless and balanced Australian combination might have conceded.Smart Stats

Shakib Al Hasan’s 66 in this match was the first fifty by a Bangladesh batsman in this World T20 and the third-highest individual score for Bangladesh in any World T20. The highest also belongs to Shakib – a 54-ball 84 against Pakistan in the last World T20.

Shakib, with 752 runs at 22.78, is now the top run scorer for Bangladesh in T20Is. Shakib and Tamim Iqbal were the joint-top run scorers for Bangladesh before this match, both having scored 686 runs from 35 innings.

The 112-run partnership between Shakib and Mushfiqur Rahim is the highest for Bangladesh in the World T20 for any wicket and only the fourth hundred partnership in T20Is by a Bangladesh pair. Tamim and Mahmudullah added an unbeaten 132 runs for the second wicket against West Indies in a T20I in 2012, which is their highest partnership.

Aaron Finch’s 45-ball 71 is his fifth fifty in T20Is and Australia’s second-highest score in this World T20. He fell just three runs short of Glenn Maxwell’s 74 against Pakistan, which is their highest in this World T20.

Australia’s openers added 98 runs – their second-highest partnership in this World T20. The 118-run partnership between Finch and Maxwell against Pakistan is their highest.

Shakib gave away 36 runs from his three overs in this match. His economy of 12.0 in this match is his worst in T20Is. Shakib’s economy in this match equalled the second-worst by a Bangladesh spinner to have bowled three or more overs in a T20I.

Equally glum were Brad Hodge and Brad Hogg, the two most venerable members of Australia’s squad, left out for the final match and unlikely to figure in future assignments. Both Hodge and Hogg might have been utilised differently in the team, something that Shane Warne certainly felt preferable, suggesting on commentary that the former could have been used at No. 3 throughout.Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim had prospered through the middle overs against a fairly monotone collection of medium pace and above, while Glenn Maxwell’s spin was not in the class of that in the armoury of Hogg and James Muirhead, also left out of this match, or numerous others sitting at home, including the Test spinner Nathan Lyon.The omission of both specialist spin bowlers chosen for the tournament seemed a kind of concession that Australia’s slow bowling plans had been awry, with the use of five seamers a rare curiosity in a tournament where all the most accomplished teams have relied on quality exhibitions of flight, dip and turn. Mitchell Starc looked underdone, as he has appeared all tournament, while Doug Bollinger huffed and puffed to little effect.The best of the pacemen was the third string Nathan Coulter-Nile, who gained some new ball swing for a pair of early wickets, before maintaining his economy for the remainder of a spell that strangely went uncompleted. Instead, Shakib and Mushfiqur accumulated soundly against bowling that did not offer much in the way of a threat, while speckled with five wides and two no balls.Granted 153 to defend, Bangladesh bounced onto the field in expectation, but soon found themselves being smashed around Mirpur by Warner and Finch. This was the kind of display many had expected to see earlier in the tournament, when Pakistan, West Indies and India all escaped unharmed from their encounters with Australia’s opening pair.Warner skied an early half-chance that fell short and essayed one other reverse hoick but otherwise clattered the ball in sensible areas. Both he and Finch sat on the back foot to the spinners and capitalised on any shortness of length, before climbing out to swing sixes when the bowlers tried to compensate.By the time Sohag Gazi coaxed a thick edge behind from Finch the match was well on the way to being over. Kumar Dharmasena did not see the deflection and shook his head, leading to a sequence of verbal conflict between Warner and Mushfiqur. Warner’s departure the following over drew a send-off from Al-Amin Hossain, but like Australia’s eventual victory, it was sound and fury signifying nothing.

Trent Boult and Tim Southee shepherded New Zealand their first series win away from home against a top-eight nation in 12 years

The Report by Alagappan Muthu30-Jun-2014
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsTrent Boult tormented the West Indies top order•WICBTrent Boult and Tim Southee shepherded New Zealand to their first series win away from home against a top-eight nation in 12 years.New Zealand’s declaration with an overnight lead of 307 had lazily been dubbed brave. The fact that they were away from home would have been discussed. The criticism they would invite if West Indies overhauled the target and claim the series had the potential to frighten. But Brendon McCullum does not appear a captain who prefers the safe route. Moreover, in Boult and Southee, he had two exceptional new-ball bowlers, who would be operating against a depleted batting line-up. It wasn’t a punt. McCullum was simply giving his bowlers the time they would need to dismiss the opposition, especially with showers predicted. Two of them did interrupt play, but in the end they contributed to a stunning finish as the Test went down to the final hour.It took Jason Holder, a debutant at No. 7, to provide the hosts’ strongest source of resistance. He sustained a painful blow to the thumb while tackling a short-ball barrage but shook it off. After some time at the crease, he even took them on and when the ball ventured closer to his half, he played some sweet drives to fuel the innings’ only half-century. Shane Shillingford provided dogged support as the eighth wicket contributed 77 runs. He weaved under bouncers, took body blows when the fifth-day pitch misbehaved and hit out with impressive power but their efforts could not resurrect a poor top-order performance.Boult’s skill in swinging the ball both ways left the batsmen noticeably unsure. Kraigg Brathwaite shouldered arms to a rousing indipper that slid off his pad to cannon into off stump. Kirk Edwards followed the same method but had managed to protect his stumps with his pads. Boult flew into an appeal and the umpire obliged, but DRS surprisingly indicated that the ball would have bounced over off stump. Edwards survived but he was clearly shaken. Another lovely delivery – this one eased across the right-hander – took the outside edge and found Ross Taylor at second slip.A sedate Chris Gayle was hoping to occupy the crease until New Zealand’s momentum eased off. However, Southee enticed him with a fuller delivery and a booming drive ended up deflecting the ball back onto his stumps. West Indies had crumbled to 31 for 3 and were eyeing another collapse in the face. Shivnarine Chanderpaul abated those concerns for a brief period but traipsed down the track against offspinner Mark Craig to be stumped for the first time in 266 innings to leave his side reeling again.Southee pierced through the middle order with an intelligent exhibition of seam bowling. He had a battle of patience with Darren Bravo, who had seemed intent on making up for a loose shot in the first innings. He was tight around his off stump and held his drives in check for 97 balls. Then came the teaser outside off and Bravo just couldn’t help himself – he perished at gully for the second time in the match. Denesh Ramdin succumbed soon after and a lengthy tail was exposed.Craig did his bit to assist the seamers and with ample assistance from a worn pitch, he was able to generate good flight and dip to ensure the batsmen were being strangled from both ends. His heroics with the bat have overshadowed his primary responsibility but today he was key in quelling the lower order’s defiance. New Zealand have looked an impressive outfit over their home summer but success on the road would rank all the more sweeter – it was only their fifth away Test win in five years.

Jacques Rudolph has been named Glamorgan captain for 2015, replacing Mark Wallace who has been club captain for the last three seasons and Jim Allenby, who led the T20 side last season but has signed for Somerset

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Dec-2014Jacques Rudolph has been named Glamorgan captain for 2015, replacing Mark Wallace who has been club captain for the last three seasons and Jim Allenby, who led the T20 side last season but has since signed for Somerset.Rudolph, 33, joined Glamorgan on a two-year deal in 2014 and although he averaged a disappointing 31.74 in the Championship he made 575 runs at 82.14 in the Royal London Cup and 543 at 60.33 in the NatWest T20 Blast.”I’m very honoured and privileged to accept the invitation to lead Glamorgan,” Rudolph said. “I thoroughly enjoyed my first season with in Wales, but next year is a new challenge and following a number of changes I’m really looking forward to some exciting times ahead.”There were some encouraging signs last summer, especially as we came within one run of reaching Twenty20 Finals Day, but I’ve always set myself very high standards and I want to rectify a few things from 2014, especially in four-day cricket, as I feel we are a better team than what our final league position suggests.”Hugh Morris, the Glamorgan chief executive, said: “A leader on and off the field as well as being a genuinely likeable person, Jacques brings a wealth of experience to the role having been appointed captain of the Titans in 2010-11, as well as leading the South Africa A team and deputising in county cricket for Andrew Gale during his time with Yorkshire. He leads from the front and has shown throughout his career, and in his first season at Glamorgan, that he is a true professional and role model for younger players.””Mark Wallace has done a fine job as club captain during the course of the past three years, demonstrating tremendous dedication and commitment to the role and he will continue to be a valued and experienced voice in the dressing room and on the field within a leadership capacity.”Glamorgan’s rebuilding for next season has included signing South Africa batsman Colin Ingram as a Kolpak player, while they have also brought in James Kettleborough from Northamptonshire and Craig Meschede on a season-long loan from Somerset.

Services crumbled to the lowest score of the season – 31 all out – as Munaf Patel picked up a career-best 6 for 13 and spearhead Baroda to an innings victory in Vadodara

Alagappan Muthu16-Dec-2013
ScorecardFile photo: Munaf Patel grabbed 6 for 13 in the second innings•AFPServices crumbled to the lowest score of the season – 31 all out – as Munaf Patel grabbed a career-best 6 for 13 and spearheaded Baroda to an innings victory in Vadodara.Services began at 2 for 1, and still 176 behind. Only two runs were added in the first five overs of the morning when seamer Gagandeep Singh struck. With the opening made, Munaf burst through to leave Services dangling at 5 for 5 in the 11th over. Only two batsmen – none of them from the top order – scored more than 2 and Vishnu Tiwari was the only one to get into double figures with 14, as Services folded in the 20th over and slumped to their second innings-defeat of the season.”He [Munaf] was bowling sharp and was extracting some good bounce,” the Baroda coach Sanath Kumar told ESPNcricinfo. “The pitch suited our bowlers who tend to hit the deck. Going into the day, we were looking to restrict them to around 150, but we never expected something like this to happen.”Kumar said the Services collapse wasn’t due to any gremlins in the track. “It was a superb pitch,” Kumar said. “There was a lot of bounce, which is normal at the Reliance ground. We expected a little turn for the spinners but there wasn’t much, but they were getting good bounce as well. They [Services] did play a couple of poor shots, but we bowled really well.”Notorious for his susceptibility to injury, Munaf returned to first-class cricket after a two-year gap this year and was used rather sparingly. He has played three of Baroda’s six games so far, an improvement over a record of 11 Ranji Trophy games in the last six years.”We save him for the right games,” Kumar said. “He is coming out of injury so we have to use him the right way so that when he is picked, he can give it his all. He wasn’t doing anything different [today]. He just bowled normally and was excellent for us and was ably supported by Gagandeep Singh”Deepak Bhaskar, the Services manager, hoped the manner of their defeat was a one-off. “We batted poorly and Munaf did very well by keeping it in the right areas. There were no devils in the pitch. It was a positive wicket,” he said. “It is just one of those things that happen in cricket. The batsmen just failed to click.”Baroda’s victory was all the more sweet as Irfan Pathan made his first appearance for the season, but he was still “not fit enough to bowl”, said Kumar. “He’s bowling 20-30 balls a day but will need a couple of weeks [to be fully fit].”Dhiren Mistry was another positive for the home side as the 22-year old opener converted his third successive fifty-plus score into his maiden first-class century. His hundred in the first innings served as the backbone of Baroda’s 369. “It was a very mature innings, especially with the other batsmen being a bit out of touch. He used to go for too many shots and was a little flashy last season, but he’s become more compact.”The seven points from the innings win doubled Baroda’s tally, reviving a sagging campaign ahead of two away matches to round out the league phase.

According to Football Insider, West Brom are hoping to sign Newcastle’s Jacob Murphy before the end of the transfer window. 

The Baggies have made the 23-year-old their number one target, as they seek to replace Harvey Barnes before the end of the month after the 21-year-old returned to parent club Leicester.

The winger has struggled for game time at St James’ Park so far this season, although he did start in The Magpies’ recent FA Cup loss to Watford. Other than that, he has managed just three starts in the Premier League, and he will surely want a move away from the club in order to play more often. He only signed for Newcastle in the summer, but it looks as though it has not worked out.

However, West Brom could seriously profit from the player’s unhappiness currently, and a signing like this could inject a lot of optimism at The Hawthorns. Being in the Premier League, Murphy would be player that provides a lot of quality to an already exciting West Brom team. What would make this move so enticing to Murphy is that manager Darren Moore likes to play an attacking brand of football which has seen the likes of Barnes, Jay Rodriguez and Dwight Gayle thrive this season. In contrast, Newcastle manager Rafa Benítez adopts a slightly more conservative style that could irritate a winger like Murphy.

With The Baggies chasing promotion back to the Premier League, this is the kind of signing that will boost spirits this season and put them in good stead for next term.

Shakib Al Hasan, the Bangladesh allrounder, has said he is enjoying the success with the ball, but he is “desperate to score some runs”

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Aug-2013Shakib Al Hasan, the Bangladesh allrounder who is playing for the Barbados Tridents in the Caribbean Premier League, has said he is enjoying the success with the ball, but he is “desperate to score some runs”. Shakib bowled a destructive spell of 6 for 6 in the match against the Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel, but is yet to taste success with the bat and has scores of 5, 1 and 1 from his three innings.”If you told me I could take five wickets or score a hundred, I would take the hundred any day,” Shakib said. “I am more satisfied getting runs than wickets. I am an allrounder, but I always prefer scoring runs more than my bowling so I am more desperate than anyone else right now I guess.”Shakib’s poor form with the bat has followed him from England, where he was part of Leicestershire team in the FLT20, and managed 146 runs from nine innings with a best of 43. In his last match, Shakib’s bowling spell skittled T&T out for 52, but he managed only 1 in the chase, playing on a Fidel Edwards delivery, and his wicket left the team in a precarious position at 36 for 5.”In that situation I needed to bat. The plan was to see off Fidel because he was getting wickets and I played a rash shot,” he said. “I could have left that ball easily because we were not chasing 150, 160 runs so I was frustrated with myself, not anything else.”Shakib, however, was happy with his bowling after registering the second-best T20 bowling figures. “I guess I was a bit lucky because you can’t get six wickets every day in a T20 game,” he said. “Bowling four overs, getting six wickets, once in a blue moon you may get it but I’ll take it.”Barbados Tridents have not been affected by Shakib’s lack of form with the bat and have registered three wins out of three in the tournament.

Mitchell Johnson will be the first of Australia’s Test players to be rested in the upcoming one-day series against England, but George Bailey will be one Ashes winner keen to take every opportunity to play

Brydon Coverdale09-Jan-2014Mitchell Johnson will be the first of Australia’s Test players to be rested in the upcoming one-day series against England, but George Bailey will be one Ashes winner keen to take every opportunity to play. Bailey is the only member of Australia’s unchanged XI throughout the Ashes whose Test position could be considered in danger ahead of next month’s tour of South Africa, and there is no Sheffield Shield cricket for him to regain form before the trip.In the lead-up to the Ashes in Australia, the selectors made it clear that one-day form on October’s tour of India would be considered in picking the Test squad and Bailey’s remarkable ODI efforts in India earned him the No. 6 place for the Gabba Test. Bailey made batting contributions through the series, including 53 in Adelaide and 46 in Sydney, but his average of 26.14 reflected his status as the weakest link in the top seven.Alex Doolan joined the Test squad in Sydney but was overlooked as the selectors opted for another unchanged side, but what they do with the No. 6 position in South Africa looms as the major selection decision. Bailey is Australia’s vice-captain for the five ODIs against England, which begin in Melbourne on Sunday, and the matches will provide him with one last opportunity to find some runs before the Test squad is named.”Every time you represent your country you’re trying to play in all formats,” Lehmann said on Thursday when asked about Bailey. “Every game, as we’ve talked about pre-summer and with the Indian one-day series, it’s important for guys to make runs and take wickets.”One man whose Test place is under no scrutiny is Johnson, the Player of the Series in the 5-0 Ashes clean sweep. Although Johnson is part of the one-day squad the selectors have decided to rest him for the first match in Melbourne, with the intention that he will play the second ODI at the Gabba. Lehmann said several of the Test players would need a break at some point, but he wanted to avoid a situation like last summer when several high-profile men were all rested at the same time.”It’s obviously been a big summer for him so we’re just giving him a short little break, making sure he’s getting fresh for the other one-dayers as well [as the Tests],” Lehmann said of Johnson. “It’s important we put the best side we possibly can out understanding it’s been a hectic five Test matches and some of the Test boys especially are a bit weary.”We’ll sum it up as we go. We certainly don’t want to go down the path previously where we’ve rested clumps of players. We want to pick and choose where we can do it. We want them to play in their home state and we want to make sure we’re putting a good squad together looking ahead to the World Cup. This one-day format is very important for us.”The World Cup in Australia and New Zealand is just over a year away and the opportunities to settle on a preferred line-up will be slim, with no ODIs on the tour of South Africa and then Australia spending most of their winter at home. As well as working out a first-choice attack, the top of the order also poses a number of possibilities with Shane Watson, David Warner, Aaron Finch and Shaun Marsh all potential openers in this squad.The series will also provide the first opportunity for James Pattinson to play international cricket since he suffered a back injury during the Ashes tour of England in July. Like Bailey, Pattinson will be hoping to press his case for selection on the Test tour of South Africa through the five one-day internationals over the coming weeks.